Bear, bear, you'll soon feel better

Posted on Thursday 29th March 2007

Sick teddy bears at one Birmingham primary school will get a special visit on Wednesday (28th March).

Children from Year One at the Rosary Catholic Primary School in Saltley are being encouraged to bring their teddy bear to school for a special consultation with medical students from the University of Birmingham.

Birmingham Teddy Bear Hospital is a project, involving more than 40 students, which aims to teach young children (aged 3-7) about basic public health ideas.

The students use the teddy bear consultations to try and dispel some of the children’s fears about visiting the doctor. During the session every child will be able to visit five different stations, where they can find out more out about dental health, road safety, healthy eating, and special needs, before taking their teddy bear to meet the doctor.

The project co-ordinator Nav Dhillon says: “For some children, visiting the doctor can be a scary experience. By getting the children to bring their teddies for a consultation, we want to get them used to seeing how doctors work. Each teddy bear will get a pawscription at the end of their consultation, to take home.

The children will spend some time at each station, so they get some messages about the importance of dental health and healthy eating at the same time.”

“Teddy Bear Hospital” is one of six projects organised by Birmingham students through Medsin, which is a national network of medical students. Running alongside Teddy Bear Hospital are projects like Sexpression, which teaches sex education in local schools and MARROW, which helps recruit bone marrow donors.

The Chairman of Medsin in Birmingham, Faekah Gohar adds: “Volunteering through Medsin gives students the chance to work on very worthwhile projects and at the same time to improve their communication skills.

In fact we have had such a positive response from students that we have been able to start two new projects this year.”